I Train Therefore I Eat Turns One!

Today, my friends, is a very important day.

Today is the day that I Train Therefore I Eat turns 1 year old! That’s right, it’s my blogiversary.

My very first post was exactly one year from today, and it’s pretty amazing to see how far this little blog has come in just one year. I started out pretty sure that no one would read it, afterall, aren’t there thousands of healthy living/fitness/nutrition blogs out there? But I started it anyway, mostly as a place to get all of these crazy thoughts out of my head. And if others chose to read it? Well that was just a bonus.

The luckiest day on this blog happened in April, however, and that’s when this thing really started to kick into a higher gear. On April 15th, I was featured on the front page of WordPress.com as a “freshly pressed” blog. The exposure that created was a turning point in my blog, and I’m still very grateful to the editors at WordPress for somehow choosing me, and helping a whole new group of people to find my blog that day.

But far beyond that day in April, my readership has continued to expand, and for that I am thankful. In just one short year, this blog has grown in ways I never imagined. Who would have thought that I could have a blog that would be read by people all over the world? Who would have thought that I would get the chance to meet many other incredible bloggers, and have the chance to connect with so many amazing people (you)?

To celebrate this 1 year bloggy birthday, I thought today I would link you all up to some of my favorite posts from the past year of blogging. Trying to choose a handful of my favorites from 133 posts is tough, but there are definitely a few that stand out in my mind. Check them out if you’re a newer follower, as some of these are from way back when I’m pretty sure the only person reading was my mom. (Hi Mom!)

This year, I’ve got some big plans for this blog. Here, in no particular order, are the ideas that I’ve been tossing around for quite some time now:

Self Hosting: Is it worth it? Do I need to be self hosted for people to take me more seriously or can I stick with this for now? I’m still completely on the fence about this one, so who knows what I’ll end up doing.

Blog Make Over: I am in desperate need of a makeover, and I’ve just been delaying the inevitable. I would love to pay to get a professionally done logo/header, but I haven’t come up with a concept for that yet. Other than that, I plan on redoing my About Me page very soon, as well as fixing up some of my other pages, because right now it’s all kind of in shambles. Lets be honest. I’ve been neglectful.

Personal Food Challenge: I’ve had a big idea swirling in my head for a while now. I wont give details until I’m ready to start, but lets just say it’s going to be a long term nutrition experiment on my part. It’ll be a series of posts, spaced out over a few months, in which I examine (and experience) different nutritional styles. It’ll be tough, but I think I’m ready for the challenge. Details soon!

More More More! I’m ready for a new year, with new ideas and new challenges. I would love to start incorporating more reader questions into my posts, because part of what I love so much about blogging is the interaction with you, my readers, and fellow bloggers. I also would like to start including some new topics into the blog, so that hopefully I can keep you interested enough to keep reading for another year. I’m considering another Summer Fitness Challenge, but I’ll need a little more organization than last year if that’s going to go over well.

Finally, I just want to say a BIG Thank You to everyone who reads my blog. I write for people to read it, so without you there would be no blog. I appreciate each and every comment and question I receive, both on the blog and through email, so keep them coming! My only hope moving forward is to share a little insight with those who are seeking it, a little motivation to those who need it, and a little bit of laughter for everyone. If I accomplish that for even a few people, than that’s a success. (Also world domination. But that can come later) 😉

So thank you, thank you for reading along and joining me on my silly blog journey! What was your favorite post this year? Are there any topics you’re dying to read about? Fellow bloggers, is it worth it for me to switch to self hosting, and is it necessary?

I love being self hosted.. you have so much more flexibility and can start to grow your blog into working for you.. I’ve made minimal amounts since I switched to self hosting, but the opportunities are there if you reach for them.

My host, bluehost, is having a special now reduced rate from $6.95/month down to $4.95/month. You can easily transfer your stuff from wordpress.com to wordpress.org with it.

To me, I just feel much more professional with owning my domain. It’s good that you at least got the “.wordpress” part off of yours, but like I said, just much more you can do with extra plug-ins, affiliate links, etc!

Happy blogiversary! I think self-hosting is only worth it if you need to modify your page beyond basic customisation. I only made the switch because I wanted to start offering online training, and you can’t add code to do that unless you are self-hosted. However, there have been so many headaches along the way that wouldn’t have happened if I stuck with wordpress.com. Excluding the fact that my blog got hacked five times in the past three weeks and was completely shut down for three days (!), I’ve also had to deal with a number of crashes and software issues every single time WP updates. It is quite scary having no one to turn to to fix these problems when you know nothing about web design yourself! All that being said, it is nice to be able to have complete control over all aspects of your blog. Tough decision 😀

Thanks for your input! We have so much in common with our blogs, I trust your opinion 100%. I am seriously considering it, but think I might wait until I decide to start offering some services through my blog. I like the comfort of knowing that WordPress can take care of things for me, but I feel limited at the same time! Ah, such a decision 🙂

Happy blog birthday! I’m so glad you started this blog so that I could connect with you and get to meet you at HLS. 🙂 It sounds like you have some great plans for 2013 – that food challenge sounds like it’ll be interesting!

Thanks Chels! I know you were considering self hosting too — have you made any headway with that? It was so great connecting with you and meeting at HLS, hopefully we’ll be able to meet up again another time!

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Welcome!

Welcome to I Train Therefore I Eat! I'm Stephanie Rondeau MS, ATC, CSCS, CHC, and I'm a certified health coach and personal trainer in Boston, MA. My goal is to motivate and inspire, and to help people lead healthier, happier lives, free of food guilt and deprivation.I offer personal training, bootcamp classes, and health coaching services both locally and for distance clients. I hope you enjoy what you find here, and please feel free to contact me for more information on services. Welcome, and I hope you stick around for a while!